Tag: notifications

Android, Canadian Classifieds Alerter

Canadian Classifieds Alerter – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

by Evan Parsons on May 4, 2016 • 9 Comments

Where can I download Canadian Classifieds Alerter?

How much data will it use?

Here’s a simple formula you can use to get a ballpark

(X) = minutes you’re on data and not WiFi a day (2 hours = 120)
(Y) = Refresh frequency (Check settings to see potential values)
(Z) = Number of alerts

((X) \ (Y)) x 60 x (Z) = Amount of kilobytes used in a run of the day.

Someone who has 6 alerts, who is not on WiFi for 2 hours a day (120 / 15) x 60 x 6 = 2.8 MB’s a day… or 0.0028 GB’s a day.

If data usage is a huge concern, you can turn off checking when not on WiFi in the settings

How much battery will it drain?

Barely any really. Might equate to losing 2 minutes of charge time a day, tops.

Will it work on my Android phone?

Unless you have an Android phone older than 2011, it will work! I tested Canadian Classifieds Alerter on a Galaxy Ace 2 which is running Android 4.0.3 (Api level 15) and it works just fine. The only issue I’ve found is that it ignores ringtone/vibrate settings. This will be fixed in a future update.

Will it work on BlackBerry 10 devices?

According to the Amazon compatibility checker, it does. I no longer own my Q10, so I can’t test it. I will update the FAQ when I find out for sure.

How can I get it to open the Kijiji app instead of the browser?

You can’t. Unless Kijiji modifies their app to open all links associated with Kijiji. This is out of my control unfortunately 🙁

Android, Canadian Classifieds Alerter

Canadian Classifieds Alerter – How to customize and configure to your liking – Rundown of the app settings

by Evan Parsons on May 4, 2016 • 1 Comment

The Canadian Classifieds Alerter app is ready to go out of the box, however you may want to fine-tune the settings or temporarily disable the service.

Settings are available on the main page, click the top right button

Settings location

There is two different sections, “Notifications” and “Data and Sync”

Let’s go through each section and I’ll explain the settings to you

Notifications

#1 – Service Enabled: Want to disable the service for a while? Turn this switch off. When you’re ready to re-enable it, flick the switch back on.

#2 – Ringtone: Change the ringtone to something specific so you know it’s a Classifieds Alert if you want.
#3 – Vibrate: Turn Vibration on or off

Data & Sync

#1 – Sync Frequency on WiFi: How often do you want to perform checks while on WiFi? For battery considerations, you may want to set this higher. You can set it as frequently as one minute, but I highly recommend that you don’t for two reasons:

Kijiji’s servers aren’t going to like being bothered that much.
If you have more than 10 alerts, your phone won’t like it. As soon as it’s done doing one round of checks, it will be time to do another.

#2 – Sync Frequency on mobile: How often do you want to perform checks while on your mobile data? Each alert uses 60 KB (0.06 MB) of data everytime you do a check. If you check every 15 minutes, have 5 alerts and you’re on your mobile data two hours a day, you would use 480 KBs of data (0.5 MB or 0.0005 gigabytes) every single day. If you have a great data plan, you can definitely get away with setting this more frequently.

#3 – Check for new ads only on wifi: If you have a terrible data plan (I do too, nothing to ashamed of) and just don’t want to use your data at all, you can turn off checking while on data. Once you connect to WiFi again, the service will turn back on.

These are all the settings! Now download the app if you haven’t already!

Android, Canadian Classifieds Alerter, Java

How to get instant alerts from Kijiji – Canadian Classifieds Alerter

by Evan Parsons on May 4, 2016 • 0 Comments

You’ve tried using Kijiji’s daily alerts. The issue with them… is that they come daily. As in once a day, when everyone else gets them, meaning you have no more advantage than anyone else. The worst part is… sometimes they don’t even get sent at all.

The solution

If you have an Android device, you can download “Canadian Classifieds Alerter” from the google play store.

Or you can download the iPhone/iOS version on the Apple Store

What does it do?

Canadian Classifieds Alerter checks Kijiji for you! Let’s say you are looking for an iPhone and you’re on a budget of $200. Simply set an alert to check for “iPhone” and a price limit of $200 and you will be notified the next time someone posts it on Kijiji… before anyone else!

Where can I get it and does it cost money?

It is available on Google play and the Apple app store for the low cost of FREE!

How do I setup an alert?

(These steps are for an outdated Android version, iOS/iPhone version and newer Android versions will be very similar!)

Glad you asked and that you’re on board. Let’s walk through the steps… I am going to assume you know to download an application from Google Play or Amazon. Because of how their search is setup, you may have to search for “Canadian Classifieds Alerter” all in quotes. If not, just click this link for Google Play or this link for Amazon on your Android smartphone/tablet.

(These screenshots are from an earlier version of the app. The steps are still the same)

Step 1. Click “New Alert”

The New Alert screen will then be displayed

Click on "New Alert"

Click on “New Alert”

Step 2. Select a Category and Location

Clicking through the buttons will traverse you through categories, and categories within categories. The same goes for location. For this example, I am picking “Cellphones” in the “Phones” category and I will be searching in Moncton, New Brunswick. If you make a mistake, don’t sweat it, just press the back button.

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Step 3. (Optional) Enter a search query and a maximum price

While this part is optional, I highly recommend it just so you aren’t bombarded with notifications with things you don’t care about, or things out of your price range. In the maximum price field, enter the most you’re willing to pay (ie, 200) and enter a search query in the “Search for” box (In this case, “iphone”).

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Step 4. Press “ADD ALERT”

Self-explanatory.

step4

And just like that you’re brought to the main screen and your notification is now there

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Step 5. Close the application and wait.

There is a background service running that does all the checking for you… sit tight. The more specific your search is, the less results you get. It’s worth mentioning that by default, it will not check unless you’re on wifi. Go into the settings to change this. Want a rundown of all the settings? Check out my blog post on how to do that!

Step 6. You got an alert! Hurry and jump on it!

step6

Wow, that was fast! Touch the notification and the Notifications screen will appear… click “GO TO AD” to open the ad in your browser

step7

Check the ad out, if you like it, then contact the seller!

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Want more information? Check out these posts: